A Love/Hate Relationship

Guy 1: I don’t know about a 5k. I haven’t done one in a while and I wouldn’t know how to pace myself.

Guy 2: You don’t pace yourself in a 5k. You just run until your eyes bleed.

I couldn’t have put it better myself (and yes, this conversation actually happened).

As I was mindlessly logging the most miles I could in a minimal amount of time this morning, my mind wondered into the world of running oblivion and I found myself thinking about how much I loathe 5ks. To me, a 5k is a solid sprint. No stopping. No water breaks. No pacing. Just haul and haul fast. 5ks don’t allow you the time to pace through side stitches or take in the scenery. It’s heads down, arm pupping, speed attempts. I would gladly run a half marathon before I ran a 5k – no exaggeration.

The last 5k I did was in March of 2010. It was a small race, so lucky for me I did well enough to place, but I know that my time could have improved.

Given my extreme disdain for 5k, I think I should sign up for one before Boston. It will only take a bit-size amount of the morning and it is always the things that are most difficult to achieve that we should go after (added bonus: I can convince Chicken Face to run a 5k with me!). I’ll most likely bitch and complain the entire way through, but in the end, I’ll be happy I did it. Now here is where I need your help, do you know of any 5ks in northern California in the next couple of months?

Comments

I also have a love hate relationship with 5ks…right now I’m really trying to foster the love side. I mostly like them now because its a great way to get my boyfriend and friends to run together…especially races with beer at the end 🙂

I run 5ks all the time. I run them for the simple reason that there are a lot of them and I want to race a lot. 😀 I really don’t like how short they are, at least not any more. When I first started out I thought a 5k was so long!
Now whenever I’m looking for races if there are multiple distances offered I always sign up for the longer one. 😀

I am a member of the DSE run club (www.dserunners.com) and they put on 5ks and 10ks every weekend here in the city. They are super low-key with maybe 100 people, everyone gets a finisher’s ribbon (and a special ribbon if you place), and they cost a whopping $5. Can’t beat it! The next one I’m doing is the St. Patty’s Day 5k on the Marina Green. Super flat & fast! I think I convinced RoadBunner & her boy to go, too — so you & Chicken Face should come as well!

It’s so strange that I would choose to race a half-marathon over a 5K nowadays, considering in high school a 5K was the standard race distance and I thought it felt like FOREVER. I don’t mind 5Ks, but definitely requires a bit more speed training and interval work than I really have the time/energy for. You should definitely find a 5K before Boston- Marathon pace will feel like a breeze, and it’ll be good prep for a final kick in the last 3 miles 🙂

PS In response to your PR agency comment on my blog, I am happy I found another agency girl– I work at Emanate PR in NYC (sister agency of Ketchum), you?

agree. 5k=pain and suffering. I love your attitude though–I often find myself doing things just because I hate them (ahem, SWIMMING!) so I definitely understand. hope you find one–I’ll look forward to seeing the speedy results!

I’ve never done a 5K before. Crazy, right? But so true. I’m doing an 8K in a month and I’m actually slightly nervous on how to pace myself because it’s just so hilly! I think I might just call this one, “a run it, to run it” and see how it goes!

I love 5k races! I love how quick they are over with. I guess that is because I have always been a sprinter. I like going fast. I do try to pace myself for the 5k and not go out too fast. Sometimes I can blow the whole race by running a 6 min first mile.

Paige- I think you should take advantage of your training situation and crank out a super speedy 5K as soon as you have the chance.
Look for a nice flat fast course and go for it!
Warm up a couple of miles, do some quick sprinting stuff too, and go out as fast as you can and hang on! =D
then let me know how you did…

I just read your other comments now..haha…and I was being totally serious. That is based on the assumption that most of your runs are over 5 miles a day right now and that you have a pretty long long run, which I bet you do. 🙂

Its funny, I actually used to enjoy 5ks…probably because I would run all races the same no matter the distance: as fast as could. Now that I understand the importance of pacing, 5ks are no longer enjoyable 🙂

5ks scare me, but I’m competing in a big one soon, and all the speed training is SCARING ME BIG TIME! But I think it’s a GREAT idea for you!! AND you are so speedy and AMAZING to get 1st place!! Whoop! 😀

I’m with you – I hate 5Ks because they are so painful! Truthfully I haven’t actually ran the 5K distance since high school cross country, and those races were so painful because I was pretty much always going full blast the whole time.

I run my 10K races at 180 beats per minute, I would guess I’d run my 5K races at like 185 or something! haha Basically sprinting the entire time!

I agree with Small Town runner, you should try to do a 5K before Boston, I think you would destroy your 5K time, I bet you would get something around 19:00 to 19:30 based on how you are running right now. Make sure to warmup a lot, and then blast away!

ooooh 5ks are my fave! they suck but at least the pain is over in a short period of time, unlike the marathon. blech! I don’t know if I could race a 5k while training for a marathon, I feel like I slow down sooooo much in marathon training. but you’re a lot speedier than me, so you’d probably be a-ok!